From The Randolph Guide – Feb. 24, 1960

Fire broke out in the Coffin & Scarboro shoe store only minutes after closing time Monday. Flames, smoke and water did “considerable damage” to the building and its contents before the fire was extinguished.

Asheboro Fire Chief Clarence Rush said today that it would be impossible to determine the extent of the damage until after insurance adjusters had completed their appraisal. He added, however, that the damage is expected to be “considerable.”

The fire was detected about 5:45 p.m. by a woman passerby who, while window shopping, noticed flames toward the rear of the Sunset Avenue store. She ran next door to the Reaves Walgreen Agency and someone there called the Fire Department.

It so happened that the alarm sounded at a time when all full-time firefighters were in the firehouse at shift change.

Rush said the blaze apparently originated toward the rear of the store in the vicinity of the furnace. He said the oil-fired furnace appeared in excellent working condition and that he had been unable to determine what might have touched off the blaze.

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John Randolph Ingram, Asheboro attorney, announced this week that he will be a candidate for the State House of Representatives, seeking the Democratic nomination in the May 28 primary.

Ingram’s announcement comes less than a week after Sam J. Burrow Jr. made known that he will not be a candidate for re-election to the House, but instead will seek the State Senate seat in the Democratic primary.

Ingram is the first candidate of either political party to publicly indicate that he would campaign for the House seat to represent Randolph County. He is a Randolph County native and during the last political campaign was treasurer of the Randolph County Democratic Executive Committee. He was graduated from Asheboro High School in the class of 1947 and has a law degree from the University of North Carolina.

He is married to the former Virginia Brown and they have three children.

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Members of the Randolph County Democratic Executive Committee have elected Ralph L. Bulla of North Asheboro as county chairman to fulfill the unexpired term of Richard S. Clark.

Bulla was nominated for the post after the committee accepted a letter of resignation from Clark, who noted that he will move on March 1 to Monroe to establish a new law partnership.

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Mamie Faye Joyce, 15-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Joyce of Rt. 2, Ramseur, has been selected Miss 4-H to reign over the week-long activities of National 4-H Club Week in Randolph County from March 5 to 12.

Miss Joyce, an active member of the Ramseur-Holly Ridge Community Club, was elected Saturday morning at a meeting of the Randolph County 4-H Council.

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Randolph County farmers harvested 3,730,424 pounds of flue-cured tobacco during the 1959 production season, it was announced by the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Agency. Average yield per acre was listed as 1,345 pounds.

Randolph County had 1,621 farms with flue-cured tobacco allotments. Of this number, only 1,320 actually grew tobacco, with 301 farms not taking advantage of allotments. The total county allotment was 3,284.51 acres as compared to the 2,773.28 acres utilized.

– Compiled by Larry Penkava from archives of The Randolph Guide